FORT COLLINS — Colorado State sophomore safety Trent Matthews was taken to the emergency room at Poudre Valley Hospital on Thursday night because of a quickened heartbeat and getting the shivers in the dorms where the players are staying.

Second-year CSU coach Jim McElwain praised the Rams’ training staff for its quick work and judgment in getting Matthews to the hospital, as well as praising the emergency workers who tended to him.

“He was released about 2:30 (a.m. Friday), so I told him to go in and get a nap because he got a late night at it,” McElwain said of Matthews. “Now we’re just monitoring it and should get another run of tests this afternoon, to see where things are.”

McElwain said Matthews wanted to participate in practice Friday morning but was told to take a nap instead. Matthews was still sleeping by the time practice ended and wasn’t available for comment. He attended meetings and asked to speak to the team, which helped put the players at ease.

“It was very good. He said some stuff that will stay in the family, but it was good to see him,” said Kevin Pierre-Louis, a starter alongside Matthews. “We knew he was in good hands and when they told us he was OK, that’s all we’re believing. You just have to have faith that he’ll be OK. It was a good thing to see him.”

Later Friday, in a release issued by CSU, Matthews said he was feeling much better.

“There have been times when I felt worse,” he said, “but I feel a lot better than when I got back from the hospital.”

There was nothing official from CSU on what caused the symptoms Matthews was feeling.

Meanwhile, McElwain said Friday’s morning practice was the first time in this preseason camp that he saw players getting a case of what he called the “poor me’s.” But the coach said that was an improvement from a year ago, when he joked that the “poor me’s” appeared during the Rams’ second practice of camp. Then again, McElwain also realized a lot of players were in the emergency room the previous night awaiting news on Matthews’ condition.

“I obviously went ahead and OK’d bed check different because of the concern,” McElwain said.